MBB: Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association

[Civic Minded]

At this point I'm not going to say much about the heart-stopping nail-biting game. And I'm not typically inclined to disagree with my friend pointlem. Nonetheless.

First, the Powers that be at Hope ought to do something about the loud obnoxious and intrusive "music." it drains energy from the audience, takes the crowd out off the game, is oddly paternalistic, and damages our hearing. There is nothing good that canbe said about it. I noticed time after time that the crowd was going crazy going into a timeout and then shut down when that bloodying noise started up and drowned out our cheers. We don't need you and your trendy pop culture hiphop high volume idiotic drivel. Keep the game pure. Let the crowd be. Turn off that. Lasted and blasting garbage. It offends my senses as well as my sense of purity.

Sheesh!  With an attitude like that, you'll be sitting with the grey hairs in the padded seats before you know it.     I stand with pointlem on this one!   

[hoopdreams]

second year in a row a forced, ill advised, quite simply- stupid shot by...... almost cost Hope a win in a crucial game.  I'll go back to Augustana ( no not the FT's missed) but a sequence that altered the course and outcome of that game. 

Augie up huge..... Goliath putting the smackdown on David but David does not fall.  Hope seemingly miraculously crawls back, takes the lead and control ever so slightly.  The two teams battle and fight, Hope jumper, Augie jumper.....Overway makes a tough shot and racing back in transition, the lost composure an Augie guard selfishly shoots a 3 which is partially blocked.  Hope remains the loose ball and emotions overflow, pure joy and pandamonium from they Hope fans, stunned silence from the Augie crowd and shear panic from the Augie players.  Anyone with any knowledge of hoops recognizes that Augie is desperate, probably going to overplay everything looking for a steal and most likely setting themselves up for putting Hope at the line or an easy layup.

Hope's staff calls a TO with about 1:40 left on the clock.  This strategy can be debated because Hope was in control and their opponent was back on their heels.  I say Good move to calm your team and make sure everyone was on the same page for what they wanted to accomplish.  To this day i'm fairly certain a contested turnaround jumper from 15 feet, with half of your shot clock remaining, was not part of the equation.

Was this shot the only reason Hope lost and missed an opportunity for the sweet 16 in a chaotic, roster changing, bunnless season.....no.  But is is safe to say not much else went Hope's way the remainder of that night.  Lesson learned?  Apparently not.

[sac]

Hope 65 Adrian 62 OT

http://www.miaa.org/mbb/stats/1112/0225adri.htm

It was a privilege to be in DeVos Fieldhouse today.  There just aren't enough superlatives for Adrian's team effort and I think the same probably goes for Hope.  These were a couple teams a little short-handed doing great battle for 45 minutes.  Every shot, every pass, every loose ball, every rebound contested. 

I saw two coaches who coached their hearts out today.  I saw two teams who played their hearts out today.  What more can you possibly want from a conference championship game at any level.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Although both teams made mistakes at the ends of both regulation and OT it was ultimately defense that won this game.  In the last 1 minute regulation and all of the OT Adrian had 6 turnovers......5 were also credited as steals by Holwerda, Neil, Bunn, Snuggerud and Overway.  Each took away a scoring opportunity, 3 of these led to 6 of Hope's final 9 points.  With a final margin of 3, those were just critical plays.

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I felt Adrian would need somebody to step up the offense today to have a chance to pull it out.  Adam Meier was that guy.  He finished off some nice post moves in crunch time and gave his team a chance to pull one out.  Richaud Pack and Eric Lewis had really nice games, but without Meier challenging Hope's post defense the Bulldogs didn't have much in their arsenal but jumpshots, cuts to the basket and rebound put-backs.
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Hope got some huge minutes and efforts from a few guys today.  Josh Holwerda was really good I thought, except for some foul trouble he really played well on both ends of the floor.  Billy Seiler spent his 25 minutes chasing down Richaud Pack and running Pack all over the place on the offensive end.  What can you say about Logan Neil, who simply took the opportunities Adrian gave him and scored at key moments today.  Logan also spent much of the day chasing Mr. Pack around the floor.  Ultimately Coach Neil put the game in Coltan Overway's hands and he pulled them through.


-------------------


Sometime back in December or early January I mentioned that I thought Adrian would be a handful of a team to deal with come the tournament, and were they ever.  As others have pointed out Mark White gets the best out of those kids, and their hard work today was nearly rewarded.  Adrian's a couple real question mark losses to Alma from being 19-7. 

[sac]

second year in a row a forced, ill advised, quite simply- stupid shot by...... almost cost Hope a win in a crucial game.  I'll go back to Augustana ( no not the FT's missed) but a sequence that altered the course and outcome of that game. 

Augie up huge..... Goliath putting the smackdown on David but David does not fall.  Hope seemingly miraculously crawls back, takes the lead and control ever so slightly.  The two teams battle and fight, Hope jumper, Augie jumper.....Overway makes a tough shot and racing back in transition, the lost composure an Augie guard selfishly shoots a 3 which is partially blocked.  Hope remains the loose ball and emotions overflow, pure joy and pandamonium from they Hope fans, stunned silence from the Augie crowd and shear panic from the Augie players.  Anyone with any knowledge of hoops recognizes that Augie is desperate, probably going to overplay everything looking for a steal and most likely setting themselves up for putting Hope at the line or an easy layup.

Hope's staff calls a TO with about 1:40 left on the clock.  This strategy can be debated because Hope was in control and their opponent was back on their heels.  I say Good move to calm your team and make sure everyone was on the same page for what they wanted to accomplish.  To this day i'm fairly certain a contested turnaround jumper from 15 feet, with half of your shot clock remaining, was not part of the equation.

Was this shot the only reason Hope lost and missed an opportunity for the sweet 16 in a chaotic, roster changing, bunnless season.....no.  But is is safe to say not much else went Hope's way the remainder of that night.  Lesson learned?  Apparently not.

meanwhile in 2012       I kid 

[sac]

Hope won its 5th consecutive MIAA Tournament Championship.  I think if you looked around D3 basketball you'd see that doesn't happen too often.  It's going to be at least 5 years before someone even ties that mark.  Wow.

I still can't believe how much Hope's fortunes in this tournament have changed from the early days of so many semi-final exits.  I blame Mike VanHekken and Charlie Kleinheksal for making Hope believe they could win these things way back in 2002, and it really hasn't stopped since then.


Hope is 11-2 in this tournament championship game........read that again and let it sink in.  That's just incredible success.

[sac]

Adrian returns almost everybody next year.  Since Richaud Pack seems comfortable letting people know and it doesn't appear to be any state secret.  Richaud is a one semester and done player for Adrian.  He has a desire to play D1 basketball again, I wish him the best.  Unless something changes I don't expect to see him in an Adrian uniform next fall.


Adrian would actually have been sorely lacking in offense this year without his mid-season arrival.  As good as Adrian's D and rebounding efforts are, it would be difficult to see this same team without Richaud Pack achieve a second place finish in the league.


I assume Wesley Reed will return next fall, healthy and ready to go.  Add in another solid Fr. class like this last one and Adrian should be in the mix of things at or near the top again.

[hope52]

what a good game sat   the reffs were  really bad  now on to the ncaa this week

[pointlem]

Second. The allure of sports is in part to see how persons respond under pressure. While at one level all points are equal, at another level it is a test of how well you can do when the game is on the line. Colton's first free throw was clearly a matter of the pressure getting to him.

What my esteemed friend says may be, as it usually is, true.  In general, though, Colton seems to thrive on pressure.  At the end of the Wheaton game, where Hope seemed to have lost, DK delivered a spectacular steal at the game's end, delivered it to Colton who took it unhesitatingly to the basket against bigger defenders, drew a foul, and calmly swished two free throws for a 1-point win.  That was confident focus under pressure.

P.S.  Interesting point about the noise level.  I like the beat and energy, and how it animates the student section, but someone should check it with a decibel meter to ensure that it's not damaging to hearing health.

[northb]

Mr. Ypsi, your IWU, pool C, discussion belongs on a different board.  Time and place.

Mr. Ypsi, feel free to cross-pollinate the board

[formerd3db]

pointlem:
Thank you.  Yes, I agree with you that free throws at any point of the game are important.  I guess I was just trying to emphasize the point (which everyone knows already) that at the end of a close game, those free throws are a "must".  If you are ahead like Hope was and you don't make them, you are "sweating it out" as  they did yesterday and if you are behind and don't make them, then the obvious result occurs.

Sounds like the atmosphere at DeVos yesterday was estatic.  The sellout crowd was listed as 4800+.  Is that the record attendance ever there? (I'll bet sac knows the answer to that. )
   

[Civic Minded]

3675 is the official sellout number for DeVos, so if its listed at 4800, its a typo.

Please allow me to take a moment to thank the guys who do the radio broadcast of Hope games.  If their passion for Hope basketball annoys you, I'm sorry.  I for one am so grateful for the work that they do.  Having watched them for years schlep around the league, making do with whatever technology is or is not available at various venues, crawling under bleachers to make connections, literally phoning it in when a school doesn't have the necessary technology, getting home late, leaving home early, doing their research, knowing their team inside and out and doing a great job with opposing teams, I for one am impressed and thankful.  I had to miss a game a week or so ago (one of two I've missed in the past 5 seasons), and being able to listen to the broadcast made me feel like I was there.  FDF has had a similar experience while traveling for work.  So if it's not your cup of tea, fine, then don't listen.  But don't bash these hard working men.  That's just a cheap shot.  Not many of us would or could do all that they do to bring Hope basketball to those who can't attend.

[HopeConvert]

4800 would indeed be a record. And a problem. The attendance was 3471.

The music: it significantly detracts from my enjoyment of the game. I like to get thereearly and read but the loud music is too distracting. I don't enjoy it during the game. But that's me. A second claim would be whether it inspires or pacifies the crowd. I think that a strong case can be made for the latter claim, both on observation and using extant social scientific research. The third claim is that it damages hearing. That is easily testable and I'm willing to wager that it is at dangerously high levels. I also know I am not the only person who has complained about this.

As to the game: wow. A lot was said about Bryan Powell's dunk against Hope, but Colton Overway with a two-handed slam!?! Are you kidding? And what a sequence as the crowd goes nuts and Adrian within seconds lets the air out of the place by quickly burying a three. Unreal.

In the time out between regulation and OT we asked the ref if Adrian's putback attempt that was blocked by Logan would have counted. The ref said it would have. Can you imagine?

Also: we had a big argument in our section of the stands over whether Colton made the right decision to pull that ball out when he got the inbounds pass on the deep release. I argued it was absolutely the right thing for him to do, but others around me thought he should have kept going to the rim. One of the arguments was that with a 1 or 2 point lead and ten seconds left you pull it out, but with a three point lead you go for the points. I think the seconds are more valuable than the points there. If he goes to the hole and gets the shot blocked you have a problem.

Finally, sorry about all the bad grammar and misspellings on my last post. Comcast shut down our cable because evidently there was a frayed wire somewhere that was bringing down aircraft. So I was typing that on a cell phone at night in a moving car. Looking at it again - it's pretty bad.

[goodknight]

Finally, sorry about all the bad grammar and misspellings on my last post. Comcast shut down our cable because evidently there was a frayed wire somewhere that was bringing down aircraft. So I was typing that on a cell phone at night in a moving car. Looking at it again - it's pretty bad.

Only certain people would have noticed.  I thought you might have been dipping into the celebratory genever.

[almcguirejr]

First, the Powers that be at Hope ought to do something about the loud obnoxious and intrusive "music." it drains energy from the audience, takes the crowd out off the game, is oddly paternalistic, and damages our hearing. There is nothing good that canbe said about it. I noticed time after time that the crowd was going crazy going into a timeout and then shut down when that bloodying noise started up and drowned out our cheers. We don't need you and your trendy pop culture hiphop high volume idiotic drivel. Keep the game pure. Let the crowd be. Turn off that. Lasted and blasting garbage. It offends my senses as well as my sense of purity.

+k

I would also skip the spotlights and the PA announcer on steroids during the starting line ups.  I prefer the Bob Sheppard approach to announcing.  Let the game stand on its own.  False hype detracts.

[sflzman]

The music: it significantly detracts from my enjoyment of the game. I like to get thereearly and read but the loud music is too distracting. I don't enjoy it during the game. But that's me. A second claim would be whether it inspires or pacifies the crowd. I think that a strong case can be made for the latter claim, both on observation and using extant social scientific research. The third claim is that it damages hearing. That is easily testable and I'm willing to wager that it is at dangerously high levels. I also know I am not the only person who has complained about this.

I agree with you.  There's no need for hip hop and stuff during games.  If players want that for warm-ups I'm fine with it, but during the game I want stuff that gets the crowd loud and involved.  That's why I like what Alma does.  If you haven't been to a game at Art Smith Arena yet, it's fun. - when they get people in the seats - The atmosphere the last games of the year when the attendances were 501, and 637 for women and men respectively was great.  The arena with the lower ceiling gets loud quickly, there's music and videos on the video board that get the crowd, and students involved.  It's fun.  Now it's nothing like the number of people that are at Hope or Calvin games, but it's getting better.

A fun new thing for the students is the interlude dance, which SAAC has brought to campus this year:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WdMsMz6k8ao

And this one shows the people on that last Saturday.  Towards the end of the video you can really see how many people were there.  It also shows Erickson's game-winning dunk if you hadn't seen that yet.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8pG6pcDhSUM&feature=youtu.be